OPA

Final regulations governing the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Housing Improvement Program (HIP) published in the Federal Register May 2 become effective June 1, the Bureau said today.

The program is primarily aimed at helping Indians make needed repairs, renovations and enlargements of their hares.

It provides grants up to $10,000 for such work when the homes can thereby be brought up to standards. Grants up to $2,500 are permitted for work on dwellings which cannot be brought to standard, but need work to reduce safety or health hazards and improve livability. This is done only as a stop-gap measure until standard housing is available.

Assistance is based on need in relation to family size, income and the unavailability of other housing assistance.

Grants are also available to make Indian families eligible for housing loans from tribal, Federal or other credit sources. The program can also provide grants for financing new housing when there is no prospect of standard housing being financed from other sources.

Approximately $10 million was appropriated for the program for the year ending June 30, 1975.

A long-range plan to give Indian schools and communities better library services is being developed by the Department of the Interior through its Office of Library and Information Services and the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Indian Education Programs.

Interior's professional librarians, together with BIA educators, are working on the project. They are being assisted by five resource persons with special experience and knowledge.

Three of the five resource persons are Indian: Virginia H. Mathews, an Osage who is a consultant to the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science; Cheryl Metoyer, Cherokee from the National Indian Education Association, and Lotsee Smith, Comanche from the University of New Mexico. The other two are Norman Higgins from Arizona State University and Charles Townley of the University of Michigan.

A draft of the plan is expected to be available in March for review and comment by the Indian community and other interested persons.

Implementation of the plan will be primarily the responsibility of the BIA education office. Improvement of BIA school libraries will be a major component of the plan.

President Jimmy Carter showed a special interest in Indian affairs when he visited the Department of the Interior Friday, February 18.

The President, scheduled to speak to Interior employees in the Department's auditorium, came early, went directly to the fourth floor wing housing the Commissioner of Indian Affairs' offices, shook hands and exchanged greetings with BIA staffers in the hall and then visited with Acting Commissioner Raymond V. Butler for a few minutes.

Carter talked with Butler, and Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus, who was with the President, about the impact of the drought in the west on Indian reservations and the economy of the tribes.

The President then asked Butler about the present government structures for dealing with Indian Matters. Butler explained the BIA's dual role in the trust responsibility for land and natural resources and the delivery of services to the tribes.

The President then asked Butler about complaints from Indians about how they are being treated. "Are these complaints legitimate," he asked. “I’m concerned about decisions that are made which affect the lives of these people."

Butler replied that often the complaints were valid. He added that many times they were the result of a vacillating policy toward Indians. Butler said that to improve conditions a consistent Federal policy was needed.

In later remarks in the auditorium, Carter said that he wanted to substantially improve the status of Indians and the concern of our country for them. He said that he thought the person responsible for Indian affairs in our government should have the rank and dignity of an Assistant Secretary of Interior. He said he would attempt to bring this about.

Subsequently, in answer to a question, he said that he felt strongly that there should be more Indians in top positions in the federal government and, especially, in programs affecting Indians. He said that he had made a campaign promise that in his government those responsible for Indian affairs would either be Indian or be recommended as knowledgeable and competent by Indians.

The President said that he was not familiar with a bill 8.666, to allow non-Indian employees of BIA and IRS to retire early, but he would read it and would be willing to support it if it were not punitive towards non-Indian now employed in those agencies.

Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe has signed a decision on coal leases and options to lease on the Crow Indian reservation which he said he, hoped would result in the discontinuance of a lawsuit filed by the Crow Tribe challenged the validity of the leases.

In his decision, Kleppe directed Shell Oil Company and American Metals Clims (AMAX) to reduce their leaseholds to 2,560 acres each or clearly demonstrate a need for a waiver of the Department regulation concerning acreage limitations. In the case of Peabody and Gulf Oil, the Secretary decided that the Billings Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, was correct in his decision the terms of their permits did not support a request for leases of more that 2,560 acres.

He also said any larger lease must be negotiated with the Crow Tribe, subject to the approval of the BIA. He also said no final department approval will be forthcoming on any leases until environmental impact statements have been completed in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

Kleppe said he hoped that, in light of his decision, "the Crow Tribe and the companies involved in this litigation will attempt at once to resolve their differences in a more cooperative forum in order that the development, in which all parties have expressed repeated interest, may proceed in an orderly manner."

The Secretary’s decision was consistent with the June 4, 1974, decision of then-Secretary Morton in acting on a petition submitted by the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and raising similar issues arising from similar circumstances.

Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus announced today that he has asked Indian tribal leaders to recommend nominees "to head this nation's highest post relating to Indian affairs." He said this position had formerly been that of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, but would be according to Departmental plans, raised to the rank of Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.

Andrus, in a letter dated February 17 to the tribal officials, cited President Carter's promise to consult with tribal leaders on issues of concern to Indian people. He asked them to submit recommendations by March 11.

The Secretary asked that the recommendations be made "following a discussion by your governing body, and in the form of a resolution. However, if the time frame I have set for this is too short for the governing body to meet, I would appreciate your personal views."

The tribal leaders were asked to give reasons for their choices, keeping in mind the need for the person selected to be both an advocate of Indian causes and the administrator of a large, complex organization.

From the recommendations, Andrus said he would select the persons with the strongest support combined with the best qualifications to be interviewed "for the purpose of assessing their abilities, commitment and compatibility with the goals of this administration." After further consultation with Indian leaders, Andrus said he would then make his recommendation to the president.

Concluding his letter, Andrus wrote: "As Secretary, I recognize and hold sacred the special trust placed upon me in respect to Indian tribes and their resources. I pledge to you my intention to make Indian affairs a major priority of this Department.

The United States Department of Justice informed a Federal Court February 28 that it intended to follow a modified Interior Department recommendation to pursue Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Indian claims to millions of acres of land in the State of Maine.

Interior's recommendation updates a draft litigation report sent to the Justice Department in January. The February 25 report, signed by Frederick N. Ferguson, Acting Deputy Solicitor for Interior, still asks for the return of land as well as trespass damages. It includes, however, two changes agreed to by the tribes.

The tribes agreed to forbear from asserting their claims to any lands which had already been settled by non-Indians as of 1790. Those lands lie primarily along the Maine coast and are the most populous portions of the claimed area. The report indicates that a legislative solution to the Indian claims on these lands will be sought.

The tribes also agreed to withhold pursuit of any legal remedies against homeowners or small property owners within the claimed area, on the conditions that the tribes would be able to obtain the monetary value of their claims to these lands from “an appropriate sovereign body.”

The Indian claims which the United States will pursue in court thus include five to eight million acres of mostly unpopulated forest land.

The Justice Department’s report notes that President Carter has announced his intention to appoint a special representative to assist the parties to reach an amicable settlement which could be ratified by the United States Congress.

The report states that if an amicable settlement is not reached by June 1, 1977, Justice intends to begin prosecuting the Indian claims. The first action proposed to be taken then by government attorneys would be to join major landholders in the claim area as defendants in the suit. These would be mostly large paper companies. The State of Maine is the only defendant in the suit at this time.

The Indian claims are based on an alleged violation of the Indian Non-Intercourse Act, first enacted in 1790. The Act states that Indian lands may not be conveyed without the consent of the Federal Government. Most of the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot lands were lost in treaties and other transactions with the States of Massachusetts and Maine between 1794 and 1833.

The Departmental decision to prosecute the Indian claims was based on a December, 1975 order of a federal court of appeals which ruled that there exists a "trust relationship" between the United States and the Tribes. It was determined that pursuit of the land claims was the only course consistent with that trust responsibility.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Van A. Peters as Superintendent of the Stewart Indian School, Stewart, Nevada.

Peters, a member of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada, has been a school principal in Elko County, Nevada since 1972. He was previously a teacher and athletic director in Reedsport, Oregon.

A United States Army veteran, Peters earned both his B.A. and M.Ed. degrees from the University of Nevada.

Peters, 40, is a member of the Elko County Administrative Association and the Nevada Secondary School Administration Association.

Stewart Indian School, operated under the BIA's Phoenix Area Office, is a secondary school serving approximately 500 residential students.

Acting Secretary of the Interior, Kent Frizzell today announced approval of new procedures on appeals from administrative decisions of the Commissioner and the Area Directors of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Under the new procedures, review authority is given to the Board of Indian Appeals of the Department's Office of Hearings and Appeals on all appeals except those requiring the exercise of the Secretary's discretion and appeals from decisions concerning tribal enrollments.

The Department amended Department Hearings and Appeals Procedures to provide for the taking of appeals, except tribal enrollments, directly to the Interior Board of Indian Appeals by persons aggrieved by administrative decisions of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in cases involving determinations, findings and orders protested as in violation of the legal rights or privileges of the appellants. Cases requiring exercise of the Secretary's discretion will be decided finally by the Commissioner.

Exercise of the Secretary's review authority by the Board of Indian Appeals in these matters insures impartial review in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, free from organizational conflict in that the Board is a part of the Office of Hearings and Appeals in the Office of the Secretary and as such is independent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Solicitor, Acting Secretary Frizzell said. The new procedures will also streamline the appellate process in appeals to the Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Originally published in the Federal Register on December 19, 1973, as proposed rulemaking the new rules received favorable public comment. The final version includes only minor changes suggested in written comments and in oral statements submitted.

The new rules are effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, and will govern all proceedings commenced after the effective date and all pending proceedings except to the extent that application of the amendments in a pending proceeding would not be feasible or would work injustice. Copies of the revised regulations may be obtained from the Department's Office of Hearings and Appeals, 4015 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Va. 22203.

An April 24 White House announcement that a supplemental appropriation of $10.9 million for law enforcement on Indian reservations was being requested from the Congress by the Administration was welcomed by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson.

"The Indian community will be pleased to know that this request is being submitted to the Congress," he said. "The upgrading of law enforcement services, including the operations of the tribal courts, is badly needed."

For the 1976 fiscal year beginning July 1, 1975, the Bureau of Indian Affairs had requested $13.6 million for law enforcement. The request for a supplemental appropriation brings the total requested to $24.5 million. In the current fiscal year $10.1 million was appropriated.

If the funding for law enforcement services on the reservation is increased, a major part of the additional funds will be used for expanding staffs.

In some states Indian reservations are under state jurisdiction. In others, the state has no authority on the reservations, and both civil and criminal justice is the joint responsibility of the tribes and the Federal Government.

Final regulations governing the administration of the Indian Loan Guaranty and Insurance fund have been published in the Federal Register by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Fund, established by the Indian Financing Act of 1974, is to be used to make more feasible normal commercial financing of economic enterprises which will benefit the economy of an Indian reservation. The Act authorized appropriation of $20 million for each of the fiscal years 1975, 1976, and 1977. These funds could generate up to $200 million in additional financing for Indian tribes, organizations and individuals. The $20 million for 1975 has been appropriated.

Loans made under this program may be guaranteed or insured up to 90 percent of the unpaid, principal, and interest. No guaranty or insurance will be provided, however, when financing on reasonable terms and conditions would be available without this assistance.

Loans for housing on reservations can also be guaranteed or insured under certain conditions.

The program also provides for the payment of interest subsidies to reduce the interest rate paid by the borrower to a rate comparable to that paid on loans from the Indian Revolving Loan Fund, established by Title I of the Financing Act.

Loans will be guaranteed or insured only when there is a reasonable prospect of repayment of the loan. Further information about the program can be obtained from BIA Agency or Area Offices.